


Save The Selfless

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU, Almost No Dialogue, Juliet/Harry name exchange, M/M, runaways - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-12
Updated: 2012-08-12
Packaged: 2017-11-11 23:20:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/484011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry and Niall run until they find a second savior.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Save the Selfless

Washed out and dingy they walk across cracked and gum-filled streets. They’ve been gone for 3 weeks if the papers they find are accurate. It seems like longer, as if they’ve been gone for months. It’s been 3 days since they hit a stream or town for bathing. They’re trucking on, noses numbed and feet tired. They’re still going.

They don’t seem to care that lasting more than another week would be a miracle. They don’t say much anymore; not after the first few weeks. What is there to say?  _Another day, another patch of grass. The sun is out today, looks like the weather is being finicky. I still love you. I can’t take it anymore. Let’s give up._ No, there isn’t a thing to say. Instead they stick to held hands under graffitied bridges and stolen kisses in the yellow lights of truck stop bathrooms; messes on the floor cleaner than their clothes.

They aren’t searching, not really, not anymore. They’ve given up on so many things they set out to do. There isn’t a place for them, not right now, not ever, not here; not here, not home either. They don’t think about going home, it doesn’t really cross their minds now that they’ve gone and left the brick houses and paved sidewalks.

~

When they arrive in his town, the one he’s lived in his whole life, never set foot out of the limits, never left the enclosure of high priced homes and pretty faced girls with enough money to buy his soul. When they arrive the town isn’t like that. The town had settled into night, sky dripping wet droplets on tattered backpacks, flattening unruly and dirtied curls. It freezes their skin to the touch, tanned limbs a shade lighter, lips usually a bright pomegranate turned an icy color of rushing rivers. It’s been so long, 5 weeks’ worth, days spent outside, under bridges, so long since their old home. Food is crumbs and pleasure is nicked candy bars from Tescos’ around the area. Even better are the rides from passing strangers, seen as nothing short blessings fallen from holy places, more so when the strangers give them food and blankets. That was once, was it week 4? But it’s stayed with them, he has; the bronzed skin with all the tattoos, the man with the soothing voice; it’s stayed, because they’re kids really. He was they’re savior for a day.

But now they’re alone again, in this town, in the dark, in the rain, alone enough to brace themselves for their last days. They know. They know there isn’t a chance, no way, not in heaven or in hell. They’re _dying._  And it’s so painful to say, words falling out now,  _we’re dying, we’re dying, let’s go back baby, we’re dying. We were so close._ He’s trying to walk past them, brisk, because they don’t have street rats in this pretty faced city, they have kids on bikes with hands held high, girls with long-long hair and skies from all the movies. This isn’t that kind of town, it’s his town, and yet he stops. He stops, because,  _do you think they’ll know we’re gone babe? Do you think they care anymore?_ And the voice is so gentle, so slow, deep like the sea but sad like Juliet.

He wonders if he can save them.

~

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mostly Niall's thoughts.

Juliet, that’s his name for now, looks up when he stops. Trainers and white in his line of sight, pretty, clean, and oh-so-visible in the wet darkness. They’re the only thing he can see through his sopping curls, they lay across his face, emerald eyes hidden from view. His mouth stops moving, stops  _I’m sorry, love._ His mouth shuts, because pretty city, pretty people. People with homes and warmth and food, people he can use. Which sounds so horrible, using people, but he needs it. They need it. Niall’s hair is brown all over, barely visible is the blond that it once was, and their skin is rough with grit and dirt. They need this, the help, the savior, this savior. He hopes, a savior, that’s what he’s seeing, hopes the man won’t leave them here; they’re dying.

Jeans dark blue hit sopping pavement, lightly, on purpose, not a fall, just a hunch of back bones and muscle. Questions are being asked, but Juliet is so cold, so, so cold. Niall is shaking, skin so icy, touching his; and they need this, this savior. He tries to speak, tries to say something good, good enough to let them stay. He tries to speak, tries to tell the man to help, but all that comes out is  _Niall_. The man doesn’t move, still all jeans and trainers on him, but  _Niall, Niall, Niall._ And that’s Juliet’s last thought, before he’s floating, drifting through wet air, so cold he might be a snowflake, light and hitting soft plush seats.

~

He must be dreaming. It’s so warm; there isn’t warmth anymore, to near winter, nothing is above too-cold. Dreaming of home is a strange thought, one that seems odd, because, when does he dream of home? All he remembers of home is bleary things he doesn’t want to remember, never warmth, but that’s where warmth is. Unless he isn’t dreaming of home, he’s dreaming of comfort, personified in the form of achingly beautiful warmth. Now that he’s aware, almost sure he’s dreaming, he can hear the gentle words that brush his skin, puffs of air floating onto his forehead, almost real. Puffs of  _its okay, we’re okay, we’re alive love, we’re safe now babe._ And it’s so familiar, so close to reality he thinks it might be heaven.

He opens cobalt to that fact that  _oh, it wasn’t a dream._ And he’s staring at spit-slicked lips, chapped but red with life. And they’re alive, so alive, breathing and warm. Harry is there, alive and beautiful, puffs of his slow voice lingering in the air. Color to his cheeks, lips still plump and crooked with that one dimple that has everyone double-taking; and it’s been so long, so long since he’s seen that smile.

 _Niall, Niall baby, we’re free._ And he can ask questions later because Harry is so close and his lips are so red. They meet gently, parted and light. Niall still has dry lips and morning breath where Harry smells like summer and feels like paradise. They stop their lips fast, Harry not willing to be caught and Niall trying not to ease into the comfort.

~

When Niall steps into the living room, hair dripping and finally blond, he’s met with a brown stare.  _Liam_ , Harry had explained. The boy just nods and he’s staring, Niall thinks he might have missed a spot but Liam just shakes his head.  _You look different now_ , is left hanging in the air and Niall isn’t sure how he should feel about this. He doesn’t know if Liam wants something from him, a form of payment, or is just simply stating fact. He doesn’t get the chance to ask before Liam is brushing by them in an,  _I’ll be late for work if I stay any longer, don’t worry I’ll be back, help yourselves yeah?_ He hopes Liam isn’t going to hurt them.

~

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't written anything more, so this is complete for now, but I might add more later.

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly, I don't know what this is. Feedback would be great because I'm not sure if this is rubbish or not.


End file.
